


Life's a Dance (You Learn as You Go)

by vivilove



Series: Match Days [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Growing Up, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-10-21 11:23:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivilove/pseuds/vivilove
Summary: Jon and Sansa's daughters are nearing the end of their days at Chelsea Elementary and entering the minefield of puberty sooner than any of them may like.





	1. Big Plans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kit_Kat21](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kit_Kat21/gifts), [Jade_Masquerade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Masquerade/gifts), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).

> Ugh...this was supposed to be a simple one-shot for my Match Days series. It's proving to be anything but that. All the same, the story is in my head and I want to share it. The final chapter is not finished but I'm hoping if I start posting, it will kick my butt in gear! 
> 
> Gifted to three lovelies who I hope will enjoy this :)
> 
> Title from the John Michael Montgomery song by the same name.

Jon Snow loved his job. He really did. But there were aspects of being the head principal of Chelsea Elementary that he found more tedious than others and staff meetings ranked up there in the top five. However, this was nearly the end of his second year being in charge around here and he even managed to contain his sigh of relief when he reached the bottom of his agenda.

“Alright. Anything else we need to cover?”

For a second, he was met with polite smiles and blank faces and he was ready to send everyone home for the day until Ami Frey, the head music teacher, tentatively raised her hand. “I had a suggestion actually.”

He smiled encouragingly. He didn’t mind his staff having suggestions or if they wanted to talk through something in the slightest. He infinitely preferred that to listening to himself droning on about policies and procedures or district school board changes and such. He was pretty sure they all felt the same.

“I thought we could possibly do something different for the end of year 5th grade party.”

That had his attention naturally. He cared about all the students here but his daughters were 5th graders and this was their last year at Chelsea. Lyarra had gone here since kindergarten, back when Jon was a newly appointed assistant principal under Brienne. Mina, who was his step-daughter (but every bit his child in his heart) had started at Chelsea her 3rd grade year after she and Sansa had moved in with him and Lyarra.

It was May already. Mina had turned eleven last month and soon Lyarra would be doing the same. They’d already started their end of school countdown on the family activity calendar hanging on the fridge. He didn’t mind that considering he liked the time off as well but this was more than the end of another school year for the girls. It would be the end of their elementary school years.

And for him personally, it’d be the end of them riding to the same destination with him every morning, the end of him being able to walk down the hall to the cafeteria and see them during lunch and the end of them seeking him out in the office whether they’d forgot a homework assignment or had something a little more serious troubling them.

This whole school year had seemed to whiz past him in a blur. He almost felt like he’d been grasping at dandelion fuzz trying to hold on to it since August. No, he wasn’t as sentimental in general as his wife but he had his moments.

“Something other than the pizza party and animated movies in the gym on the last full day, you mean?”

“Yes. I was thinking what if we did a dance instead?”

“A dance?” His tone might’ve been a little dubious. Okay, it was _a lot_ dubious.

“Yes! It’d be something active for them to participate in besides sitting and watching movies.”

“Active is good but…”

_Think! Think of a reasonable excuse why this isn’t a good idea!_

_Why? I mean, it’s not a horrible idea._

He couldn’t say why the idea immediately had him scrambling for an excuse to say no. “It seems like it’d be a lot of work to organize a dance in what? Three weeks?” Oh, no one likes deadlines and extra work. Nice one there, Brain!

“Not really,” Sylva Santagar said. “We’ve already got the location. The kids could help make decorations maybe. It’s really just a matter of music and refreshments…”

_Sylva, you’re my assistant principal,_ he wanted to whine. _You’re supposed to back me up!_

“We wouldn’t mind helping the kids with decorations during art,” Miss Waynwood said.

Jon’s mouth was opening and closing. He probably resembled a fish. Dance decorations were neither here nor there to him. And he could already tell the way this was going.  
But then, someone else spoke up.

“I like the idea, Ami, but I think you guys are forgetting the bottom line: money. You’ve got to pay a DJ. That’s probably more than the cost of those pizzas we get from Uncle Mario’s down the street. And the kids will definitely want refreshments. It’s late in the school year to be asking parents to donate more stuff for school parties and such,” Wylla Manderly said.

Jon was nodding his head along with Wylla. He loved all this rational talk of money from the green-haired 3rd grade teacher.

“But that’s the thing,” Ami said. “We’ve got our location as Sylva said and my boyfriend has done some DJing. He’s got a great set that even has cool lighting effects and I know he’d do it for free. And as for refreshments, Beth says the PTSA ladies liked the idea and said there were some funds available from the bake sale we could use.”

“Wait…Beth said?”

“Uh huh. I told her my idea. Tell him, Beth.”

“Well, I asked Mrs. Caron and Mrs. Crane for Ami, Mr. Snow, and they said there’d be, uh…plenty of…”

She’d stopped talking because he was glaring at her, glaring at poor Beth Cassel, one of the sweetest young women one could ever hope to meet. She was no longer the meek little mouse she’d been when she’d started at Chelsea but she caught his glare and started to shrink before him. He quickly pasted on a smile. The last thing he wanted to do was the scare the hell out of his staff acting like some fire-breathing dragon just because he was internally freaking out over this.

Ami seemed equally oblivious to his freak out and Beth’s fear and took it from there. “So, yeah, there should be some funds for refreshments and other things. The kids could dress up and we’d select some Kidz Bop tunes and…”

He glanced at Randa’s notepad since she was sitting next to him as he tried to rally again. And instead of her customary staff meeting doodles his eyes saw a mock-up of a flyer for the dance that hadn’t even been agreed upon yet! Did everyone else here know about Ami’s idea before him?!

“But a dance? For 10-year-olds?” he tried again, figuring he might as well make one more attempt.

It didn’t matter though because everyone else present seemed quite fond of the idea and soon a cacophony of voices were excitedly drowning out his concerns.

Talk of hiring a photographer was heard, followed by a suggestion of borrowing the middle school’s disco ball. Ami said she could teach a few simple dance moves in the final music classes of the year. Sylva Santagar even said she had a cousin who had an Italian Ice stand they could use. Italian Ice might be okay. But the rest?

“I’m still getting occasional complaints about us letting the 5th graders sing that Green Day song two years ago when Brienne left,” he mumbled.

Nothing. Nada. All the rest of the faculty was gung-ho for Amy’s idea except for Mrs. Dustin. _Great, I’ve got Barbrey on my side. I’m officially a fuddy-duddy._

He grew quiet listening to the others plot and plan and kept thinking of Lyarra and Mina…at a dance.

Was he aware that his girls were getting older, old enough to probably think Ami’s idea was awesome? Yes, he was.

Did he like it very much? No, he didn’t.

Ami turned back his way as the discussion died down and all eyes were on him. “So, what do you think, Jon?”

“It’s, uh…let’s give it a whirl, I guess,” he answered feebly.

* * *

_“Remember when the days were long_

_and rolled beneath the deep blue sky?_

_Didn’t have a care in the world_

_With Mommy and Daddy standing by_

_When happily ever after fails_

_And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales…”_

“Could you turn that off?” Jon asked as he carried the load of clothes from the dryer into their bedroom.

Sansa looked at him funny before clicking off the music she’d been listening to. “I thought you liked Don Henley.”

He dumped the clothes on the bed so they could start folding and looking for missing socks. The girls had a match tomorrow morning and always seemed to be in desperate need of clean socks at the 11th hour. “I love Don Henley but he’s not helping my midlife crisis any at the moment.”

“You’re 32, Jon.”

“I’ll be 33 in a few months.”

“And unless we’ve gone back in time a couple of centuries without my knowledge, it’s still hardly midlife crisis time.”

“A dance, Sansa…for the girls.”

“This isn’t a big deal. Mina’s old elementary school would do a 5th grade party and there was music and dancing, I believe.”

“But _our_ girls at a dance and _dancing_…with boys maybe.”

“You’re going to go grey during the teen years, huh?” He gave her a pitiful look and she laughed. “It will be fine. They’re still just kids, honey. You’ll have chaperones and such anyway, right?”

“Right.”

“Can I be a chaperone?” she asked, her fingers dancing up his arm as they continued folding.

“Sure, you can. I’ll tell Ami to put you on her list.”

“And will you be my date?”

“You’re always my date, love, and I figured you wouldn’t want to miss this.”

“You know, as I recall from school days, the chaperones occasionally danced together at these things.”

“I didn’t go to many dances,” he shrugged, doing his best not to crack a smile at her pout. He failed.

She leaned into him and batted her eyes flirtatiously. “Will you dance with me, Mr. Snow?”

“I don’t know. I’ll be terribly busy making sure no one spikes the punch or pulls the fire alarm.” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ll dance with you. I’ll dance with you now in another way if you’ll allow.”

And to prove it, he cast aside the socks in his hands and pinned his wife to the mattress, earning a yelp and then a soft moan when he kissed her.

“DAD!! MOM!! David’s stinky!!” Lyarra hollered down the hallway.

“Shit,” he muttered, his forehead sinking onto Sansa’s heaving chest.

“Probably,” she snickered.

“No, David, no!” Mina shouted. “He’s trying to take his clothes off!”

Nineteen months old and obviously a prodigy of some sort, David Rickon Snow had discovered that he liked undressing himself. It had started with shoes. He preferred being barefoot and his shoes and socks were often tugged off at the most inconvenient times like at the grocery store…or in the backseat if the window was rolled down. There’d been a few U-turns made to retrieve his Stride Rites.

And when his shirts or pants were relatively simple to remove (and who’d want to dress a toddler in something complicated with lots of buttons and ties?), he was becoming a regular little Houdini at getting out of them.

Add to that disposable diapers with Velcro tabs, and you could have a naked boy in seconds flat. Jon almost envied him. But with a dirty diaper? Yikes.

He rose to his feet and helped his wife back up before trudging off to take care of one of the more thankless tasks of parenthood.

A few minutes later, he was reaching for a final wipe out of the container and came up empty. “It’s straight to the bath for you anyway,” he told David. “Girls? Can one of you grab another tub of wipes from the storage pantry for me…please?!”

“Baff?” David asked.

“Yes, bath.”

“Baff.”

“Yes, you’re going to take your bath.”

“NO!”

“Well, you’ve certainly got that one down.” He looked up to see the requested wipes being handed to him. “Thank you, Mina. Would you mind starting his bath for me, sweetheart?”

“Sure thing. Not too hot.”

“That’s right.”

After disposing of the diaper, sanitizing his hands and lifting the wriggly toddler, he kissed the top of his son’s head, enjoying the tickle of his soft, dark curls against his lips. “David, I think it’s about time we had a man-to-man talk about potty training.”

“Poddy?”

“Yes, potty. Maybe you can use the potty like a big boy soon.”

“NO!”

Once David was splashing in the tub, Jon had figured Mina would leave them to it but she remained. She did enjoy helping with her brother as long as stinky diapers weren’t involved. Both the girls were very attentive and sweet with him.

However, it would appear that she had something else on her mind tonight as David was getting washed.

“Hey, Dad?”

Was he still pleased as punch every time she called him Dad? Yeah. Was he always going to be like putty in her hands when she did? Maybe.

_‘Dad, can I have a BMW for my 16th birthday?’_

_‘Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ll go rob a bank while you pick out the color you like.’_

Christ, he needed to work on his Tough Guy routine some.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” he asked, rinsing his soapy son.

“What were you and Mommy talking about earlier?”

“Earlier?”

“Uh huh. Something about a dance?”

Her voice was soft as a kiss and her bright blue eyes brought summer skies to mind. In the face of such wistful innocence, he felt helpless, but relieved by it in a way, and forever amazed at how easily his children could steal his breath away.

Mina would absolutely love the notion of the dance, he was sure.

He might have his reservations, largely linked to his tenacious desire to keep them little kids as long as possible in this case, but he would readily acknowledge that he could be a pushover when it came to Sansa and the kids.

“Yeah, a dance for the 5th graders. Would you enjoy that, sweetheart?”

* * *

Mina had felt rather important having top secret news to share at recess on Monday. She’d called them all over to discuss it. Alright, maybe it wasn’t really top secret but the announcement wasn’t going home until later this week. Jon hadn’t said she _couldn’t_ tell, had he? There were perks to being friends with the principal’s daughter, right?

Apparently, Lyarra hadn’t thought so. She’d shrugged and said she was going to kick her ball around with some of the other kids instead when Mina had told her about the planned announcement. _“Like a press conference!”_ They’d been discussing such things in social studies this week.

It had been decided that the dance would occur at the end of the school day and a permission slip would be required. There’d be an alternate plan for kids whose parents didn’t want them to attend…board games and ‘Magic School Bus’ videos in Mrs. Dustin’s room. Mina shuddered at the very idea.

There’d be music and refreshments at the dance, Jon had said. Mina was already trying to decide what to wear. Maybe Mommy would be willing to help her find something special for this occasion. They were graduating from Chelsea in a sense, weren’t they? This was probably like prom or something.

_And everyone knows that proms have a queen and a king._

She looked at Parker and smiled really big. He smiled back but looked kind of puzzled, too.

“A dance?! Why are they ruining our party that way?!” Rashad asked, looking very unhappy once she’d spilled the beans.

Parker and Luis were wearing the same disappointed looks.

“Are they going to serve pizza at least?”

“Yeah! My parents never get Uncle Mario’s pizza. I’ve heard it’s good.”

Jon hadn’t mentioned pizza among the refreshments. “I think the dance idea sounds wonderful,” Mina sniffed, ignoring the question of Uncle Mario and his pizzeria.

Abby and Sarah nodded in agreement. They seemed to like the dance idea. She’d thought Parker might at least like the idea a little bit. He’d given her a very sweet Valentine a couple of years ago and he was her friend…and he was cute. He’d make a good prom-type king, wouldn’t he?

_That’s silly, Mina. Proms are for teenagers. You’re just 11 and Jon said it was more like a fun party for the 5th grade. Stop making it more._

Still, she wanted Parker to be excited about this. Boys could be weird about things like dances, she remembered. She’d heard Jon saying things about not liking dancing in the past. What was something that could make this more exciting for a boy?

“My step-dad said the dance might have its very own Italian Ice stand there.”

“Really?!” That had Rashad’s attention anyway.

“Would we have to pay for the Italian Ice?” Sarah asked.

Mina frowned. She wasn’t sure. She also didn’t like not having all the answers. “Of course not. It’s our 5th grade dance party. I’m sure the Italian Ice will be…” What was that grown-up term? “…on the house. You know, free…as much as you want.”

There were pleased looked all around now and Mina grinned. This was going to be amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics in chapter from 'The End of the Innocence' by Don Henley.


	2. Growing Pains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to those of you who read the first chapter. I've missed writing this family even though there's other stuff I'm working on. This chapter gave me some fits but hopefully it's okay. Pre-pubescent and parental angst ahead...

“Why’d your dad agree to a dance?” Beren asked Lyarra as they were playing the following day at recess.

The news had spread through 5th grade like wildfire. Lyarra rolled her eyes and wished it hadn’t. All day, people kept coming up and asking her dumb questions about the dumb dance. She’d usually direct them to Mina but Beren was her neighbor and also one of her oldest friends even if he was a boy.

“I think Ms. Frey kind of booby trapped him with it. At least, when I overheard him and Mom talking about it, that’s what it sounded like.”

Booby traps were like hidden snares or tricks. Dad had definitely sounded like he’d been caught off guard or tricked when he’d been complaining to Mom about it in their bedroom Friday night. Mom had said he was being ‘overly dramatic’ though, kind of like ‘Llama, Llama, Red Pajama.’

“That’s funny. Booby trap,” Logan snorted. “Ms. Frey…” He shook his head and held his hands in front of his chest. Sometimes, Logan was an odd duck as Grandma Cat would say.

Then, it occurred to her what he meant. He had an older brother who was always telling him stuff that he’d repeat to sound grown up. “You’re gross.”

He kept laughing so she turned her attention back to Beren as she self-consciously crossed her arms. Her own chest wasn’t as flat as it had always been anymore. She’d complained about soreness some after she’d got hit in the chest with a ball at practice last night and Mom had something about going bra shopping. She should probably feel grown up about that but it made her feel more embarrassed than anything. She was happy with how she was and only having so many things to put on every day. Why did stuff have to change?

“So, are you going, Lyarra?” Beren asked as he ignored Logan’s chortling, too. Beren was a good pal.

“Sure. It’s better than Scrabble Junior in Mrs. Dustin’s room. Plus, my mom and dad will both be there so I think it’s required that I go.” They were sort of like the First Family of Chelsea, right? Her dad was the principal. “Will you go?”

Beren shrugged. “I guess. I heard there’ll be Italian Ice, as much as you can eat there.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Do you think we could hang out there together?”

Beren had been homeschooled up until this year. He was a little shy, too. He’d made some friends but he still tended to stick to his ‘first’ friend at Chelsea. She didn’t mind.

“Of course, we can hang out there together.”

* * *

Mina frowned as she and her sister were finishing up their homework later that day. “Wait. You mean, Beren asked you to hang out at the dance with him?”

“Uh huh.”

“And you said yes?”

“Of course, I did.”

“So, is he is like your date?”

“Date?! No way!” Lyarra scoffed, crinkling up her nose before making up-chuck faces. “That’d be so weird.”

“Okay.” Mina nodded, feeling oddly relieved…before she immediately started fretting again.

What if this really was like prom?? Lyarra already had a date!! She didn’t even want one and she had one!! She didn’t have a date!! She needed a date, didn’t she?! Parker hadn’t even said if he was going to go yet!!

“Girls, dinner!” she heard Mommy calling.

They headed down the hallway and sat down at the table where David was already in his highchair, tossing peas to Lady and Ghost who were eagerly lapping up every last one.

“David, stop that,” Mommy scolded as she was carrying the rest of the food to the table. “Eat your peas. The dogs don’t need them.”

“David no wike peas! Doggies wike peas,” David laughed, still tossing the peas.

Mina moved the little bowl of peas from his tray and Lyarra ushered the dogs out of the room, earning Mommy’s thanks. They could try again with those later but her little brother thought it was fun to ‘feed’ the dogs at dinner time and was a menace about playing with his food, worse than Lyarra even. Lyarra who already had a boy who wanted to hang out with her at the dance. Mina felt sickish.

“Smells good, love,” Jon said, coming in from the backyard where he’d been finishing up repairs on the lawnmower (unsuccessfully based on the amount of grease covering his shirt and hands and his less than happy expression.)

The four of them soon joined David at the table and filled their plates. Mina picked at her supper, worrying over dances and promised ‘on the house’ Italian Ices (why had she said that?) and boys who didn’t seem to care about dances and all kinds of things she hadn’t been worrying about a week ago.

She’d been excited about the dance idea at first but now she didn’t know what to think. Kind of like last week when they’d gone over to the middle school for their tour, it just all seemed to be both more and also less than what she’d expected.

She was going to be a 6th grader in a few months, the Big Time. The library was open all day. You didn’t have to wait for your teacher to take you. You just needed a pass or you could stop in between classes or even at lunch. And in the lunchroom, you could sit with any of your friends in your grade. No longer sitting at assigned tables by room unless you were in trouble. Mina never got in trouble at school. Speaking of rooms, you changed rooms for every single class with a different teacher for each subject. And you choose between Chorus or Band or Orchestra for your sixth period class.

It had all sounded so cool…until she’d learned there was no playground. There was no recess at all really except occasional trips outside to stand around the concrete basketball court during fine weather and do…what exactly? She wasn’t much for basketball. Not a single swing or set of monkey bars were to be found there. It would be very different than Chelsea.

Mommy had stopped working at Chelsea not long after David had been born but Jon was still there. She wished he could just become the principal at Long Barrow Junior High next year so he would be with them but that could never be. No more Jon coming to visit at lunch. No more waving to Ms. Royce in the office (who was still dating her daddy.) None of the teachers and lunch ladies and janitors that she’d known the past three years would be going with her to Long Barrow. It was going to be so different.

Now, she was feeling sad and she hated feeling so sad for no good reason. Why was growing up so hard?

Mommy was putting peas on top of David’s plain spaghetti noodles and he was laughing and then eating them up before blowing raspberries at Mommy and making her laugh, too.. Mina wished she could explain to David how lucky he was to be little in some ways even if she didn’t really want to be a toddler again.

She noticed Jon looking at her and looking worried. And then she saw that Mommy was doing the same. Then, the two of them were looking at each other. She didn’t want them to worry about her. She gave them both a smile and dug into her spaghetti with a little more relish. A Very little relish. Her tummy still hurt.

“Girls, I was going to run to Target after dinner for a few things. Would you want to come along?” Mommy asked as dinner was nearly finished. “We could do a little party shopping.”

That had Mina perked up at once. It would be for Lyarra’s birthday party that was coming up this weekend but she loved party shopping with Mommy and was excited that her sister had chosen to have a party this year.

They both agreed and she saw Mommy and Jon smiling again. This would all be fine. There were plenty of days left until the dance. There was nearly two whole weeks of school to go…a lifetime!

* * *

Things _had_ been going well. The three of them had enjoyed knocking around Target on a quiet Tuesday evening, picking up chips and drinks and other party musts for the weekend.

But now, she had two girls who looked decidedly troubled.

Sansa bit her bottom lip and wondered what had possessed her to steer them into the girls’ clothes and accessories department tonight. She’d thought they could just check out the selection. Okay, maybe she’d thought about more than just checking it out.

Between Jon’s occasional unwillingness to see the writing on the wall and his moaning about midlife crises on Friday, she’d thought him being home with David tonight might offer her and the girls the opportunity to make this ‘very special’ first purchase without any new grey hairs or gnashing of teeth from Dad.

_Apparently not._

She wished she could call her mother or Jon’s mother or…somebody who’d know what to tell her to make this all resolve like some sort of sitcom fantasy. Actually, had any sitcom ever addressed this particular part of growing up?

_“Look at all the pretty choices,”_ she’d said, holding up two different training bras. _“They didn’t have all these styles and colors when I was a girl. Would you want to pick one out?”_

Lyarra had just stared at her, dumbfounded at first and then more than a little horrified.

Mina however had spoken right up. _“Why are you asking her?! I’m already eleven and I don’t have one yet! Why haven’t you got me one yet?!”_

_“Well, of course we can get you one, too, baby. I meant both of you.”_

_“I’m NOT a baby!”_

_“No, I know you’re not a baby, ba-I mean, Mina.”_

Alright, she’d been looking at Lyarra when she’d asked about purchasing one. Honestly, she’d been thinking of her in this instance. The ball to the chest had clearly hurt in a different way than in the past last night. A bra wasn’t going to prevent that all together but Sansa wasn’t blind. Despite Mina being a month older, Lyarra was the one starting to develop to the point she was experiencing tenderness and could use some support whereas Mina just wasn’t there yet.

But to Mina, this would be the worst possible thing to say and Sansa knew that. She could only imagine how she would’ve felt if it had been proposed that Arya get to do something like this ahead of her when they’d been girls. Yes, she and Arya were two years apart instead of one month but this was a big deal for girls and some of them were clearly more ready for this step than others.

And also maybe, Sansa was struggling with her own variety of growing pains. She loved all of her children but Mina had been her first baby and it was hard to let that first baby stop being the baby sometimes.

“I don’t want one,” Lyarra whispered miserably, crossing her arms over her chest protectively and staring at the pack of soccer-themed party plates in the basket.

“Okay, sweetie. Mina, did you…”

“I want to go home,” her daughter huffed, not looking at either of them.

Something had been eating at Mina and she feared she’d only made things worse. She could tell it at dinner and Jon had noticed, too. And Lyarra was obviously uncomfortable with the thoughts of buying a bra tonight and maybe they needed to go home and have a talk once David was laid down.

_Ugh, will I ever get this right?!_

Logically, she knew she needed to cut herself some slack. She was just as human as her children and her husband. She wanted to be everything they needed all the time and handle everything with grace, good humor and loving care.

_‘Setting that bar too high again,’_ a voice inside her head whispered. It sounded suspiciously like her mother’s voice.

A choice of favorite candy at the checkout stand brought back smiles though so maybe she’d managed not to scar anyone for life with the trip to the bra section.

When they got back in the van to go home, she flipped on the radio, thinking maybe they might sing along to some tunes like they often did when the three of them rode together. Jon had driven the van earlier to get stuff for the mower repairs (or attempted repairs) and had it on the station that played older music, stuff the girls called ‘Grandpa’s Music.’ Her father would laugh at that and tell them that ‘Grandpa’s Music’ was the best music.

Still, Stevie Nicks’ was not what a thirty-year-old mother of three who was feeling like a big, fat failure at Mommydom tonight wanted to hear.

_“Well, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’_

_‘Cause I built my life around you_

_But time makes you bolder_

_Even children get older_

_And I’m getting older, too.”_

Quickly punching the button to another station before dashing a few tears away, she could almost laugh at herself for being no better than Jon...if she didn't feel so much like sobbing on the side of the road.

* * *

_“Sooooo…you’re talking to Lyarra, right?”_ Jon had asked after the supplies from Target were put away.

_“Well, actually, I’d like to figure out what’s going on with Mina and let you talk to Lyarra first.”_

_“Sansa…”_

_“You’ll do great.”_

_We’ll see about that,_ he thought as he walked down the hallway to his daughter’s bedroom.

If he’d never met Sansa, he’d probably be having this talk with his daughter on his own anyway. Or maybe trying to bribe his mum or Rhae to have it.

_No, it’d be me._

He raised his hand to knock on her open door. She was sitting in her bed reading. She was voluntarily reading more than she used to which pleased him. She really liked the ‘Goosebumps’ series which was great. He just wished it didn’t tend to raise those old bedtime fears of hers.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Which one is that?”

_“The Werewolf of Fever Swamp.”_

“Oh, yeah. I like that one.”

He sat down on the edge of her bed. She laid her book down. “Is something wrong, Dad?”

“No, not really. Mom and I were talking about the trip to the store.”

She sat up and wrapped her hands around her knees, laying her head down on top of them. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. We don’t have to talk about that but…I hope you’re not upset with her.”

“No, I’m not upset with her.”

“Okay. So…” He looked around the bedroom, trying to think up a topic to discuss.

Lyarra surprised him by speaking first. “Was my mother, um…did she have big…” She raised up enough to gesture towards her chest.

_Oh, boy._ “Your mother was, uh…like most women.”

“Bigger or smaller than Sansa?”

“Um…” _What the fuck do I say?! HELP!_

Actually, he’d not thought of Val like that in so long he had to think about it. He didn’t exactly want to think about it.

_Christ, don’t act like some frat boy idiot. Be mature about this. They’re just breasts and she’s just growing up. This is not something for your daughter to feel shame over._

“She was maybe a little bigger but the size of a woman’s breasts doesn’t really...”

“Hey,” Sansa said from the doorway, causing him to yelp. “Mina’s asking to speak with you and I was wondering if Lyarra might…want me.” His wife’s eyes were distinctly glassy and there was such a vulnerability in the way she said those last two words. Her talk with Mina hadn’t gone so well.

“Okay.” He leaned forward and whispered in Lyarra’s ear. “Would you want Mom to stay and talk to you? She probably has some more information than I do. But no pressure if you’d rather not talk just now.”

She peered around him at Sansa for a second before nodding. “Yeah, I’d like to talk to her.”

He rose from the bed, squeezed Sansa’s hand and then headed to Mina’s room. She was reading as well.

“Nancy Drew, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

_“The Hidden Staircase._ I’ve read it before.”

“It’s nice to reread books we enjoy.”

“I’ve read it a dozen times probably. I like it that much.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” he said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. Whatever seemed to be bothering Mina at dinner must’ve passed. Everything would be…

“Am I pretty, Jon?”

He blinked at the rapid change of topic. Totally typical for Mina but she could still catch him off guard. “Pretty? Of course, you are, sweetheart. You’re a beautiful little girl.”

“A beautiful _little_ girl. That’s what you always say. Daddy says it, too,” she said with a hint of impatience.

“Because it’s true.”

“Yeah but am I pretty like a girl that boys would want to go out with someday?”

Oh. “I’m confident that there will be boys wanting to go out with you…when you’re older.”

“How old?”

“Twenty.”

He chuckled at how fast her jaw dropped. “Twenty?!” That’s so old!” He didn’t chuckle at that.

“No, not twenty. Maybe sixteen.” _Or seventeen or eighteen or…what’s wrong with twenty actually?_ “Is this something you’ve been worried about? About boys thinking you’re pretty?”

“A little.”

“Mina, you’re my step-daughter but I can assure you that you’re a pretty girl and someday there’ll be all these boys coming around wanting to ask you out and I’ll probably have to freak out about it a few times.” She giggled at that. “But I hope you know that you’re so much more than the way you look, sweetheart.”

“That’s what Mom said, too.”

“Mom?” Ever since he’d met them, Mina had always called Sansa Mommy.

“I’m not a baby.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I told her I’m getting too big to call her Mommy.”

“Oh.” _Oh, boy._

“I don’t think she liked it.” _I’ll bet not._ “She said she understood but…” Mina’s eyes began to well up with tears. “I think she wanted to cry when I told her. She looked so hurt and I didn’t know what to say so I asked her if I could talk to you instead.” She bowed her head and started crying then, her book sliding off the bed onto the floor.

If there was one thing that absolutely tore him apart, it was for his wife or kids to be hurting and him to not be able to fix it. Tonight was looking like one of those nights but he’d still try.

* * *

The whole Mom vs. Mommy thing had hit her like a sledgehammer the other night. How could something so simple gut a grown woman? 

“Mommy, can I help with the icing?” Mina asked four days later when Sansa declared Lyarra’s cake sufficiently cooled.

_Mommy_. Sansa tried ignoring the way her nose would twitch every time Mina said it now. The days of being Mommy were likely numbered and she’d be Mom all the time soon. Her mom had been Mommy once upon a time, too. Just another part of growing up, she told herself. Her nose was still twitching over it. 

“Of course, you can…” _Baby_. She stopped herself before she said it. “Of course, Mina.” _You’ll always be my baby but I know you’re not a baby. I’m trying. _

Yes, she’d cried on her husband that night in their bed. Her daughter hadn’t meant to hurt her but it had hurt, silly though it might be in some ways. 

Jon had been prepared for it, bringing a fresh box of tissues to the bedroom with him once the girls had gone to sleep at last. 

_“Why do they have to grow up so fast?”_

_“That’s what I’ve been moaning about since that damn staff meeting,”_ he’d replied.

Growing up was what was natural. She just hadn’t expected to be feeling so much and all over an end of the year dance, 11th birthdays and training bras. 

But that was the dark and dreadful secret of parenthood that they were both coming to accept as the years kept passing; somedays there was just too much to handle and you had no clue what you were doing. You might manage to handle a problem or at least improvise enough to get by or you might fall flat on your face. You picked yourself up and tried again the next day. Somedays it was amazing and somedays it…well, it could suck. You loved them so much, poured so much into them until you were worn to a nub and they’d still be wanting more. And sometimes you were lazy, you thought of yourself maybe a little bit more than usual and then you suffered crushing guilt afterwards.

She’d done alright with Lyarra the other night though at least. They’d talked and Lyarra had seemed more at ease with her changing body as Sansa had got her to open up. She couldn’t blame her for not exactly be jumping for joy over impending puberty. It wasn’t an easy thing for anyone to go through and she knew that far better than Lyarra did having lived through it already. 

But, for now, her daughter was okay with the notion of a bra _(“A sports bra like the US Women’s players wear!”) _and Jon had wound up reassuring Mina that she had nothing to worry about when it came to being liked by boys someday and that, when the time came, he’d have his Scary Dad speech all prepared. He’d even given examples which had made her giggle madly, loudly enough for her and Lyarra to hear in the next room. 

“Is that my cake?” Lyarra asked as she rushed into the kitchen like the Tasmanian Devil. 

They were hosting a sleepover for her friends tonight and Sansa wondered if Lyarra would be completely out of energy by eight o’clock between soccer this morning and her excitement over party preparations. 

_Sugar will probably keep her going_, she thought, half amused and half dreading the inevitable crash once it burned off. 

“Cake! Cake!” David shouted as he toddled into the kitchen with one hand grasping Ghost for support. Mina’s birthday had been last month and cake had become one of his favorite things ever and favorite word after ‘NO!’

“Yes, it’s your cake, Lyarra, and, no, we’re not eating it yet, David.”

“Cake! Me want cake!”

“I want cake, David. You say, ‘I want’ not ‘me,” Mina told her brother with unwavering patience.

“Me want cake, too!” Lyarra shouted instead before bursting into giggles.

Sansa laughed at their antics, pulling a bowl of cut up fruit from the fridge. “Here, have some of these berries and bananas. Lyarra help David into his seat. Mina, you can stir the icing while I get everyone a bowl of fruit and some milk.”

“Cake?” David asked once more with a precious little pout. 

“Not yet, baby. Soon. Have some fruit.”

“Nanas?” 

“Yes, bananas.”

He smiled and complained no more. Physically, he was much more work than his sisters but, when it came to mental gymnastics, toddlers were far easier to redirect and distract than pre-teens. 

_Until their father comes in…_

“Oh, is the cake ready, love?” Jon asked with a covetous look just as she and Mina finished their icing job. Him and Lyarra were both bonafide chocolate cake junkies. David would be in good company. 

Sansa scowled at him as David immediately started again. “CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!”

But when Jon started chanting with him, she wasn’t able to keep scowling and soon the girls joined them, leaving her breathless with laughter before long and eternally grateful for her family and chocolate cake. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Lyrics from 'Landslide' by Stevie Nicks.


	3. The Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay on finishing this. I lost my mojo for it and this chapter has sat half-finished for months until Katie (Kit Kat) sent me a certain ask yesterday on Tumblr and suddenly I felt inspired to get it done. So, thank you for that, my dear! I hope you'll enjoy it. Fair warning-It's quite FLUFFY!!
> 
> As for this series, I do plan to write Theon and Rhae's wedding which will probably be more adult-centered before I wrap things up but at present I've got enough irons in the fire so maybe after New Year's (fingers crossed).

Mina stood in front of her mirror, turning from side to side to see her profile after putting on the soft pink bra with the white bow in the center. It was very pretty, the prettiest one Target had available. She had liked the blue one too though. It had taken her a while to make her decision last weekend when Mom had taken her and Lyarra shopping again.

She’d asked her mom if she needed one with underwire and her mother had shook her head.

_“I thought underwire was important.”_

_“Underwire is a pain sometimes and you don’t need that style of bra right now.”_

_“Okay, Mom.”_

Every time she called her mother Mom, it became a little more natural but she’d still slip and call her Mommy sometimes. She supposed that was alright. There were times she still wanted to call her Mommy but everyone else at school seemed to call their mothers Mom. She didn’t like feeling like a baby but she was coming to realize that growing up was complicated…like bra shopping.

_“When will it get simpler?”_ she’d asked her mother.

_“It won’t really but I’ll be here by your side whenever you need me, Mina,”_ her mother had whispered in reply. She’d sounded sad and she didn’t want to make her mother sad.

However, the bra had not suddenly given her breasts. Mina wasn’t even sure why she wanted them exactly. Lyarra said hers hurt sometimes. But she wanted to be grown up so much and it just seemed like it was taking forever.

_“It doesn’t though,”_ her mother had said. _“It will happen. It will seem like a long time to you and a short time to me and Daddy and Jon. Grandma says it will be the blink of an eye to her.”_

_“How is that possible?”_ she’d asked her mother, wondering if she was missing a joke.

_“It’s the funny way time works. The older we get, the faster it moves. At least, that’s the way it feels. You’ll see someday.”_

Mina pulled the light blue dress he’d chosen for the dance over her head. You could just barely notice there was something under it. It was lovely and she felt very grown up wearing it. The dance wouldn’t be until later today which meant she probably shouldn’t climb the monkey bars during recess. She might anyway. _It’s our last day of recess…forever._

She gasped softly and decided she didn’t like thinking about that.

Lyarra wasn’t even going to wear a dress. Mina wasn’t remotely surprised by that, no more than she’d been surprised by the purple and neon yellow sports bra Lyarra had chosen.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and it was Mommy holding David. “You look beautiful, Mina.”

“Thank you, Mommy.”

“Are you all set for your last day of 5th grade?”

Her eyes were sparkling and Mina just knew Mommy wanted to cry. Mina felt like of like crying, too. She still couldn’t believe this was her last day at Chelsea.

She wasn’t going to cry though. She was going to enjoy today. It might be the last of something but it was the first for something else. She was going to her first dance and wearing a bra and growing up. She still hugged her mother very tightly before she grabbed her backpack and dashed down the hall where Jon was yelling that they were going to be late if they didn’t get moving.

* * *

“Go! Me, go!”

“Hold on, mister,” Sansa admonished as David tried to tug free of her hand in the parking lot.

She’d not planned on bringing her toddler to this event but Lyanna had come down with a rotten spring cold and her parents had taken a cruise. Granddad David was at work and, for once, all other aunts and uncles, blood related and otherwise, were spoken for in the middle of a school day in early June.

She picked him up to a chorus of wails. Her little boy was very independent which was great…sometimes.

She drew a deep breath and did a speed count to ten before adopting her sweetest Mommy voice. “David, are you looking forward to going to the school?” His little mouth was drawn up in a pout that for some reason reminded her a lot of Jon, not that he pouted like a toddler all that often. “Do you want to go to the dance and see the pretty lights and hear the music?”

“Me, go!”

_Soon enough,_ she thought with a sigh. Why couldn’t they just stay little? “Yes, you’re going but you’ve got to help, Mommy. Can you be Mommy’s big helper?”

“Es.”

“Yes? Oh, thank you. So, hold my hand in the parking lot and we’ll be inside soon, okay?”

The wiggling continued but the wailing ended long enough to get inside.

She entered the office and it still felt like stepping back in time a couple of years to her. It all looked the same. Shae, Megga and Randa were there, eager to see her but even more eager to see David. She looked down the hall to where Brienne’s office had been which was now her husband’s.

“David, would you want to sit with Ms. Randa?”

Nineteen month-olds were notoriously less than fond of strangers but Randa had been dating Harry for a good while now so he’d grown to trust her since he’d see her outside the occasional trip into the school. She passed her wiggly toddler off, knowing Megga would probably be handing him a sucker as soon as her back was turned and Shae might offer him sips of her soda in a bid to win him over.

“Knock, knock,” she said, peeking into his office where Jon was looking something over.

“Hey! I’m glad you’re here. Where’s David?”

“Out front with Randa."

“Good.” He raked his hands through his hair. “You’re in time for my emotional break down.”

“Oh, honey…”

He wasn’t lying. He wasn’t crying but he wasn’t lying either. The last two years, he’d given the end of year send off speech to the 5th graders, the first time under Brienne’s direction and last year on his own. But as he’d been scribbling down the usual round of things he liked to say to wish the kids well in middle school, he’d got to thinking and hit with no small tide of emotions.

“More like a tsunami of feels. Is that how the kids would say it?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” she laughed. “I’m still trying to figure what the hell ‘yeet’ means.”

“I still remember the first time I carried her into this building. She was two and I needed to set up my classroom. Mum and Rhae were both working. I brought the portable playpen but she cried and I let her out. She followed me around the room, fascinated by everything I hung up or set out.”

“And then she’d immediately pull it down or pick it up, right?”

“It’s almost as if you’ve had a two-year-old before,” he said wryly. They shared a chuckle before he continued. “I remember several of the other teachers giving me strange looks when they’d pass by my classroom and stop in to say hello. I was paranoid and kept wondering if it was because I had brought my baby to work or because I was a man bringing my baby to work.”

“It’s rare for you men to suffer paranoia like that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve got no room to complain. At the time, it seemed like it’d be forever until she was actually a student here and now she’s leaving and I just…”

“I know. I understand completely.”

She’d moved into his lap by this point and they pressed their heads together. One benefit of no longer being on the payroll at Chelsea, she didn’t have to worry about professionalism as much when she visited her husband. Still, the door was closed.

“We’re going to be fine,” she assured him. “They’re going to be fine.”

“I know. They’re just growing up awfully fast.” He smiled self-consciously. “Sorry, I’m being so…”

“It’s okay.”

“I needed this. I needed you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“Good. It’s nice to still be needed.”

He lifted her chin with his fingertips and gave her a look. “You’re always going to be needed whether they’re calling you Mom or Mommy. They may be growing up but they’re still going to need you, I promise.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear that today.”

A crash, a shriek and devilishly adorable little belly-laughs ended the moment a few seconds later. David had been freed from Randa’s lap…and wasted no time wreaking a little havoc.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of impending disasters. Once they’d picked up the stacks of bottled waters that had been sent in for the dance, Ms. Santagar came in with worse news. Ami Frey and several of the other teachers involved with planning the dance had caught wind of the development and followed her. Suddenly, Sansa was holding her wiggly little boy and watching her husband get mobbed.

“The children will be so disappointed!” Megga lamented.

“There’s still dancing at least,” Ami offered looking miserable all the same.

“So? They’re like a horde of gremlins if you don’t offer them sugar at a thing like this,” Shae pointed out.

“What are you going to do, Jon?” Randa asked.

“What am_ I_ going to do?” Jon blinked and had a hard time hiding his frustration. “I love how even though none of this was my idea it’s all suddenly my thing to fix,” he grumbled.

Like it or not though, all eyes were on the head principal. Fortunately, Chelsea’s head principal had a very capable wife ready to spring into action. “I have an idea.” She pulled out her phone and sent out the Bat Signal or S.O.S. on her social media to all her friends through the school and a couple of others who just might be able to sneak away from work for an hour for this.

* * *

“Wait, there’s no Italian Ice?!”

“Why aren’t we getting Italian Ice?”

“That’s the only reason I wanted to come to this dumb dance!”

“How could this happen, Mina?!”

“I thought you said there’d be free Italian Ice! ‘On the house,’ you said. ‘As much as we want,’ you said.”

Lyarra watched as the circle of recess comrades closed around her sister like a pack of hungry dogs, growing more and more upset over the fact that Ms. Santagar’s cousin wasn’t going to be able to make it with his Italian Ice stand as expected.

“Sheesh, Louise, they sure are upset,” Beren said from beside her.

“Yeah, you can say that again.” _And so is Mina._

They’d been sitting together on the far end of the gym just chatting and wishing there was a soccer ball handy but they had a front row seat to the Great Italian Ice Meltdown.

Lyarra felt kind of miserable on Mina’s behalf. It wasn’t that she really cared one way or another about Italian Ice or this dance but her sister did. Mina cared a lot about stuff like this so maybe Lyarra cared a little bit for that reason. Just like Sansa, Mina always wanted things to be just so. And she tried really hard but sometimes things don’t go the way we plan…just like in soccer. Lyarra would get upset when a game wasn’t going well and Mina would often be there to cheer her up. Maybe she could cheer Mina up this time.

Then, Logan went and mentioned her dad. “Mr. Snow shouldn’t have let them change things. When my brother was in 5th grade, their party didn’t suck like this. If they’d just stuck with the pizza party and movies they always did when Ms. Tarth was here, we’d be having fun right now.”

They all reminded Lyarra of those fair-weather fans Dad would grumble about. If everything was peachy, they loved you. If something went wrong, they were ready to tear you up and spit on you. It wasn’t Dad’s fault that Ms. Santagar’s cousin couldn’t make it. It wasn’t Ms. Santagar’s fault either really. For all they knew, her cousin’s freezer busted or something. Meanwhile, it _really_ wasn’t Mina’s fault and it wasn’t fair to blame her even if she’d been talking up the dance since before it was even announced last month.

Mina stood there facing them and Lyarra could see the way she was nervously wringing her hands together and twiddling with her braid. “I’m sure Ms. Santagar’s cousin wanted to come but sometimes grownups have things come up. I know he wouldn’t mean to let us down.”

Their eyes met and Lyarra could tell Mina felt like crying. Lyarra remembered how Mina had whispered to her one night that her father used to let her down sometimes when she was little. He’d forget stuff or not show up for things without even calling. Lyarra couldn’t imagine her dad ever doing that.

_“He never meant to. Sometimes things would come up, he said, and he was always very sorry.”_

_“But it hurt?”_

_“Yeah, it did.”_

Harry didn’t do that now but Lyarra remembered how sad Mina had been telling her that. Ms. Santagar’s cousin letting the kids down wasn’t the same thing but it did bother Lyarra to think Mina was sad over it. And there were two things that got to Lyarra quicker than anything; something that wasn’t fair and someone she cared about being upset.

“Come on,” she told Beren, jumping to her feet. “You owe me a favor.”

“I do?”

“Sure, you do. For something, I’m sure. Or maybe I’ll owe you one.”

Beren was a nice kid and she figured he’d do it even if he freaked out a bit. She whispered in his ear and start giggling at his look of terror.

“I can’t do that!”

“Sure, you can. You’re not a ‘fraidy cat like some boys, are you?”

“But your sister likes Parker.”

Lyarra shrugged. “And Parker’s just standing their like a dork while everyone picks on Mina. You’re not a dork, are you, Beren?”

“No.”

“And you want to make my sister happy again, don’t you?”

He gulped and nodded as she led him to the group.

* * *

  
  
“Wannadance?”

Mina looked up in confusion at the unexpected question. It took her a second to realize it was Beren who had spoken.

Lyarra gave him a not-so-subtle shove and he spoke again. “May I have this dance?” he asked this time, all formal and polite. What had gotten into Beren? And was he asking her?!

Her heart began to pound and her face was growing all hot. She felt ridiculously pleased but also surprised, never expecting Beren Tallhart to ask her to dance. It was silly how happy it made her…until she started to fear she’d misunderstood.

“I…Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

She looked around at the assembled kids, many of whom looked ready to start laughing. Why had he asked her? Parker hadn’t asked her and Mina had been hoping he would.

Beren was here with Lyarra. No, they weren’t dancing and Lyarra said it was nothing like a date but they’d been hanging out with each other and Mina had already accepted that Beren would always be her sister’s friend first. She’d even wondered once or twice if they might get married someday. She’d be the Maid of Honor and hope Lyarra didn’t want them to all wear Man United scarves as part of the ceremony.

But here was Beren asking her to dance. She looked at Lyarra and suddenly she got it when Lyarra grinned at her. That pleased feeling quadrupled. Her sister had put him up to this so she could dance and people would stop quizzing her about the missing Italian Ice. They were sisters and looked out for each other…always.

“I’d love to,” she told Beren in a great gush, ignoring the others. She held out her hand to Lyarra. “Come on and dance with us.”

Boys and girls could dance together at middle school and high school dances. Someday, she very much wanted a boy to dance with her like that. She wanted a boy to hold her close the way Jon would hold her mother when they danced and look at her that way.

But, today she’d had enough of feeling grownup. Beren was a sweet boy and Lyarra had done this for her. _And we’re just kids even if our time here at Chelsea is almost done_.

She gladly walked away from the pack of inquisitors and to the middle of the dance floor with her sister and her friend.

Their DJ, Ms. Frey’s boyfriend, played an old, old song by someone named Rick Astley and encouraged the kids to dab to it. She had the best time laughing with Lyarra and Beren as they each showed off their best and silliest dance moves (even when she occasionally and very subtly had to adjust the training bra.)

And when Parker walked up, asking if he could join them, they welcomed him to their little group. He was okay but this wasn’t prom and she’d have to see if he’d grow up to be prom king material later on. The rest of them could stand around and moan about no Italian Ice. Mina would rather dance.

But just as the never-ending ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ ended, she saw Mommy coming in with David on her hip. Much to her surprise, her father and Granddad David were with her along with a whole slew of moms carrying in bags and bags of stuff.

“Let’s go see what that is,” she told Lyarra and her friends.

She had a feeling Mommy was going to make things right because that’s what Mommy always tried her best to do.

* * *

Jon watched in awe as his amazing wife quickly organized the assembled adults and the various supplies with the precision of military troop movements. _Maybe even more precision._ A long table was carried to the side of the gym and set up with vanilla ice cream and the non-dairy alternative and scads of syrups, whipped topping, fresh-cut fruit and every variety of sprinkles imaginable (no nuts though). Everything was in its appointed place with bowls at the start of the line and spoons and napkins (along with some slightly dinged-up bottled waters) at the end and manned by an army of 5th grade mothers.

Ami’s boyfriend told the kids that the Ice Cream Sundae station would soon be ready and the enormous roar of approval drowned out the horrible pop song he’d been playing. _I thought that guy went out of style when I was still in elementary school!_

Yeah, there were a few lone hold-outs whining about cotton-candy flavored Italian Ice. _You can never please everyone_. But overall, the kids were happy with the ice cream and the dancing, too.

He had seen his girls of course, dancing with Beren from next door and also Parker. He told himself not to worry about it today. And honestly, they were just kids having fun, dancing with each other and being silly. Their smiles and laughter were enough to make him feel like this event was a success.

After everyone had their fill of ice cream (there’d been plenty donated from Sansa’s last minute plea for help), Jon had the lights turned back on long enough to give his farewell speech to the 5th grade class, one that would forever be special to him because of his girls. He managed to keep his emotions in check by glancing at his step-father often who was holding his namesake during Jon’s speech…and getting his nose squeezed rather brutally. The grandfather didn’t seem to mind at all. He’d have to tell his mother that later when he called to check on her cold.

When the lights were dimmed again, he took his opportunity to dance with his wife while David danced with Lyarra and Harry danced with Mina.

“I love you, Supermom.”

“I know…and thank you for letting me take over. I love you, too.”

“You can take over anytime you like as far as I’m concerned.”

He pulled her closer, despite the wriggly and increasingly whiny little toddler between them, stealing a kiss and blissfully happy at the thoughts of the approaching start of summer even as a chapter of the girls’ lives was closing. He didn’t even mind when David smeared some hidden pocket of chocolate syrup all over his tie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
